September 24th, 1998
Old Fort Niagara, Lake Erie
2:15 A.M.
The winds rushed, scraping against the aging stone of the battlement as the rain thundered down from the sky above. The thunder, a soft rage of the heavens, the lightening an ominous glow in the world above them. Inside by the fire on a bench of hard wood sat three small children, barely awake as the storm raged around them, protected by the warmth of the fire and the thickness of the stone. Together the waited, huddling close for the familiar touch of each other as a comfort in the strangeness of the night. Down the hallway the man that had brought them here paced the length of the hall that l just beyond the edge of the fireplace and out of their sight. An eruption of thunder cried out and the smallest of the group grabbed desperately onto her sisters as the door was pushed open. A man walked in and glanced at the shivering forms of the girls as the wind chilled them and fear seeped into their skin. He shook his head slowly and closed the door, walking down the hall towards the other man.
Xx
"Stan, brother. It's been a long time." Andrew stated as his brother met him in the hallway with a hard expression on his weathered face. "I'd begun to think you'd never forgive me."
"I came because of the girls Andrew, no reason beyond that." Stan said harshly as he removed his fedora and set it gently on the bench that lined the hall. "They deserve a better life than what you're giving them." Andrew swallowed and looked down.
"Look, it wasn't supposed to be this way. I never counted on what happened to... what happened the night we left. I never wanted to do this on my own. I need you to take them. I can't- I can't do this anymore, Stan." He looked to his brother pleadingly, but Stan still remained hard in expression as he stared down his younger brother. "Stan, you gotta listen to me on this; you have to take them. They;re young enough at this point where in a few years they won't even remember my face, you can make them forget me. Please, I'm begging."
A long silence followed between them. Finally, Stan broke the silence. "Andrew, this is the worst thing that I have ever seen you do as my younger brother. You're twenty-nine years old, start acting like a man and take some responsibility! Those girls are your daughters, not damn animals you can ship off to whatever wants them when times are bad." Glaring at him, he folded his arms.
"Don't you think I understand this! Just listen to me for once though, this is too damn dangerous now. If I keep them now they're at risk just as much as their mother was before they-" He stopped short and looked up at his brother. "I just... I need some time okay? I just need to work this out."
"What happened to Pam was a tragedy, we all know that, but you have to be able to move on and protect those girls. I'm giving you five years, Andrew, do you hear me, five. If you don't clean up your act and claim these girls by then, I'm going to make it my fucking job to make sure you never touch a damn hair on their heads ever again. Do you understand me? Five years." Andrew nodded and Stan picked up his fedora, replacing it on his head.
"Just... just tell them I love them and that I'll be back soon. It's a promise." As he turned to leave, he stopped. "Take good care of them, brother." And with that, he left. Stan shook his head and walked back out to where the three girls sat. They'd managed to fall asleep in a tangled mess. He sighed and took the smallest, a red-head with a mess of tangled curls and freckles on her heart-shaped face, from the pile. She snuggled against him in her sleep and he walked her out to the car that he he'd driven there. He strapped her into the backseat and went back for another girl of slightly curly hair of brunette hair that reached to her shoulders and placed her gently into the car next to her sister. Immediately she attached herself to the red-head sighing sleepily as she dreamed. When he turned to go back for the last, he'd found that she'd followed him out; already soaking wet as the rain pushed against her. Her eyes held a truth in them and he had an eery feeling that she'd heard, that she knew.
"Uncle Stan, I'm ready to go home now." She whispered and lifted her arms up to him. Not knowing what to do he lifted her up and placed her next to her sisters in the car. When he had climbed into the front-seat and started the car he thought for a second he'd heard her say, "I'm going to miss him."